Wearable technology is a fast-developing field, and thus significant developments are needed in how users interact and interface with these technologies. Various alternatives exist for determining user intent in wearable technology exist. One such alternative is to use touch-based interfaces. Examples of touch-based interfaces may include capacitive touch screen, buttons, switches, pressure sensors, and finger print sensor. Another alternative is to use audio interfaces such as through use of key-word vocal commands or natural language spoken commands. Another alternative is to use a gesture based interface such that hand motions may be measured by some sensor and then classified as certain gestures. Yet another alternative is to use a computer-vision based interface such as by g. recognition of a specific individual, of a user's presence in general, or of two or more people.
Wearable technology presents particular challenges in that user-interfaces successful for established technologies are in some cases no longer the most natural, convenient, appropriate or simple interface for users. For example, large capacitive touchscreens are widely used in mobile devices but the inclusion of such a user interface may not be appropriate for discrete ear-worn devices.
Therefore, what is needed are improved user interfaces for wearable devices.